Ellie Donnell

Ellie Donnell

Managing Editor

Ellie is the Managing Editor at SquareMeal where she oversees the day-to-day operations of the editorial team, including writing and editing content across its network of digital channels, seasonal planning, managing freelancers, liaising with sales teams, monitoring workflows and diving into analytics.

Ellie's experience

Her interest in pursuing a career in food was sparked whilst studying English at the University of Bristol, where she took on the role of Food Editor for its student newspaper. During her first summer as a graduate, she worked at The Independent writing articles for its Lifestyle section, followed by a three-month Marketing internship at chocolate company Doisy & Dam.

In 2017, she landed a permanent position as Digital Editorial Assistant for leading recipe brand Delicious Magazine, where she supported across all elements of its editorial output online. Here, Ellie garnered a foundational set of digital skills that saw her progress to the role of Assistant Digital Editor in just two and a half years.

During the pandemic, Ellie moved to content marketing agency The River Group as Senior Content Manager, where she oversaw the end-to-end production of digital content for her client The Co-op, particularly creating social-first recipe videos. This varied role honed Ellie’s project management skills and experience in creating content for social media, but her love for writing was calling.

In 2021, Ellie moved to SquareMeal as a Senior Writer to create high-quality content across all its digital channels, particularly the website, social media and newsletter. Boosting its newsletter open rate from 14% to 34% is still one of her proudest achievements. In 2023 she was promoted to Managing Editor, where she still writes a broad range of content for the platform, but with a slightly broader lens, working to create, implement and manage an engaging, traffic-driving content calendar.

When she’s not writing about restaurants, you can find Ellie on her bike, lacing up her running trainers, or eating peanut butter (crunchy, of course).

Latest features from Ellie Donnell